Man Flu
by perpetualpathology
Summary: How will Tris look after Four when he has a serious case of 'Man Flu? And will the contagious bug spread around Dauntless to certain other members?


**Here's a little oneshot that IWantDauntlessCake and I wrote on a forum (called General Stuff in the divergent section if you want to check it out) together. We may write a sequel to it if you guys like this one :-)**

* * *

He could feel his pulse pounding in his head and his throat was so incredibly hoarse and dry yet no amount of water could soothe it. He was laid in the middle of his double bed with the sheets thrown on the floor and he was staring up at the ceiling that read 'Fear God Alone'. The sun had just risen and the light piercing through the windows had become too much for his sensitive eyes so he slowly sat up and got out of bed to close the blinds that he had forgotten to close the night before but before he could pull the correct string from the tangled mess at the corner of the windows, there was a knock at the door.

"What?" He barked and the door then creeped open to reveal none other than Tris Prior. "Sorry, I didn't think it'd be you." He apologised before he finally found the piece of string that pulled the blinds down.

"Well, irritability is a common symptom of man flu." Tris teased as she closed the door behind her and walked over to his bed.

"How did you know I was sick?"

"Uriah told me – he was moaning that he has to cover your shift in the control room all day." Tris informed him.

"Oh, right. You should go, I don't want you to get it. I'll just try to sleep it out." Four stated as he slowly laid back down on his bed.

"You know as well as I do that you're not going to 'sleep it out'." Tris stated bluntly as she sat down on the edge of his bed and put bravely her hand on his thigh. "I've only just spoken to Uriah over breakfast so I'm going to go and get some things to help you feel better–"

"Honestly Tris, you don't have to go to any effort."

"Well this is my rare abnegation streak coming out so if I were you, I'd make the most of it." She smiled. "I'll be back soon. Is there anything you want?"

"Just go already." He replied playfully as he rested his head on his pillow and closed his eyes. Tris then smiled to herself before she walked out of his apartment, quietly closed the door behind her and headed down to the infirmary to see how dauntless members dealt with the common cold.

* * *

A little while later, Four had just splashed his face with some cool water in the ensuite bathroom in an attempt to reduce the feeling of burning of his skin however, the icy liquid had only made his skin sting a little and it hadn't done any good. He wiped his face on the towel and then walked back into his bedroom to find Tris standing with a steaming mug.

"Please, let yourself in." He said with a hint of sarcasm.

"It's honey and lemon tea. It's supposed to make you feel better." She informed him as she ignored his comment and handed him the beverage.

"Mm. It's… lemony." He tried to smile at her, but the level of both sugariness and sourness was impossible to hide from his facial expression as he squinted his eyes, swallowed the mouthful and then put the cup down on his bedside table and sat on the edge of his bed. "God it's hot in here–"

"No, you stay there." Tris interrupted abruptly as she put her hands on his shoulders. "I'll do it, just lay down." She ordered softly as she went over to the windows which she presumed he was about to open, and did so as far as they would go to get some fresh air into his apartment. "Do you feel like you're going to be sick?" She asked.

"Not much." He replied but he then noticed a look of unease on her face. "You're not squeamish are you?" He smirked.

"Blood I can deal with but I can't deal with sick… it's just the smell. It usually makes me feel sick as well." She admitted. "But it doesn't matter; you're the sick one so I'm staying here." She smiled as she sat on the edge of his bed.

"I'm taking no responsibility if you get sick too – I've told you that you can go." Four declared but as his fever worsened, he could feel his skin flushing bright red.

"I know." She nodded. "I'm just going to get a damp cloth, you're sweating." She said softly as she walked to the bathroom and then returned with a wash cloth, that had been ran under the cold tap and then squeezed out to get rid of the excess water, and sat on the edge of the bed next to his torso.

"Most of the time, I understood why you didn't fit in to abnegation," Four began as Tris gently wiped the cloth around his forehead. "But now, it's obvious that you were a transfer from there." He whispered.

"I think anyone – abnegation or not – would help someone when they get sick if they cared about them." Tris stated. "Now get some rest… The more you rest, the sooner you'll feel better."

* * *

By late afternoon, Tris Prior was sat at the table and chairs by the small kitchenette in Four's apartment. A part of her wanted to lay in the bed with Four as he rested – he wasn't sleeping, merely lying down with his eyes closed – because he seemed more vulnerable and kinder whilst he was sick and whilst intimacy was a fear that she was yet to conquer in real life, she doubted that any kind of intimacy would occur whilst he was sick – he didn't want to make her sick just as much as she wanted to avoid getting sick.

"I think you might want to go for a walk Tris." He croaked as he slowly sat up and then slid off of his bed and onto his own two feet.

"Why would I want to go for a walk?" She frowned.

"I'm not feeling too great." He admitted as he rubbed his forehead and walked to the doorway ensuite bathroom. "It's alright, you can go." He added after seeing her hesitant look.

"I'm not _that _squeamish, I can stay." Tris forced a smile.

"Really Tris, I know you don't want to. Why don't you just go and get a couple more bottles of water?" He suggested. "I'm on my last one."

"Are you sure you'll be okay on your own?"

"Yeah, I don't need an audience." He stated.

"Okay, I'll go and get some more water then." Tris forced a smile before she headed for the door of the apartment and headed downstairs to the cafeteria.

* * *

Around 10 minutes later, Tris returned with two bottles filled with cool water and covered in misty condensation to find Four laid back on the bed again.

"Where you sick?" She asked.

"Yeah." He sighed bluntly as he stared up at the ceiling.

"You look feverish again." She said concernedly. "Try this." She said softly as she pressed one of the bottles of water against his forehead and within seconds of it touching his skin, he let out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks." He panted as he raised his hand to hold the object so that she could let go. "Listen, why don't you go down to the cafeteria for dinner?" He suggested. "It's nearly five so Uriah and the others should be finishing work by now; you can sit with them."

Tris took a few moments to think about it; she hadn't eaten since breakfast that morning and taking a break from being in the same room as Four whilst he was ill wasn't a bad idea.

"Do you want me to bring you anything up?" She offered. "I think it's hamburgers tonight."

"No thanks, I'm not hungry for a big meal." He replied.

"You want dauntless cake?" Tris suggested humorously.

"I'm sure I could manage a slice or two." He replied sheepishly which caused Tris to stifle a laugh.

"Right, I'll be back soon."

"Tris, make sure you have dinner while you're down there, you need to eat."

"Hey, you're the sick one and I'm looking after you, not the other way around." Tris said sternly. "Alright, I won't be long. But just a suggestion, you might want to have a shower."

"What're you trying to imply?" He protested.

"Oh nothing… I'll be back soon." She smiled as she headed for the door. Four then lifted his dark grey shirt to his nose and grimaced – she wasn't wrong. So he slid out of bed, grabbed a clean towel from the shelf and entered his ensuite.

* * *

"Hey, where've you been all day?" Christina asked as Tris sat down on the bench next to her in the cafeteria.

"Well let's just say I give it about 30 seconds before Four enters so that they appear to enter separately." Will joked.

"He's not coming down, he's sick." Tris stated as she grabbed a hamburger and ignored the side dishes so that she could eat relatively quickly.

"Is he alright?" Christina asked with concern.

"Well I know he's not well enough to do his job in the control room." Uriah declared as he joined them at the table and the first thing he did was grab two hamburgers and put them on his plate.

"I'm guessing you had to take his shift." Christina concluded.

"Yeah, even though he's only got a cold – Tris you need to teach him to man up." Uriah quipped.

"He threw up this afternoon and given that there aren't any toilets in the control room, can you imagine how that could've gone?" Tris protested.

"Relax, I was joking. I _offered_ to cover his shift for him, otherwise he would have had to have gone to Eric to get someone else to cover his shift and I can only imagine what Eric would've said to him about having a cold."

* * *

"Hey, I got your cak…" Tris trailed off as she entered Four's apartment with a relatively small black cardboard box in her hands but she froze as she found that Four had just exited the bathroom with nothing more than a black towel wrapped around his waist. "Sorry, I should've kn–"

"It's alright, come in." Four smiled as he always seemed to find her abnegation-like attitude towards privacy and intimacy rather amusing. Of course he had had it for 16 years of his life, but he'd said goodbye to all of their traits as soon as society had allowed it.

"Are you feeling better?" She asked as she put the box containing his cake on the table that she had sat at earlier to distract herself.

"Yeah, it's a bit easier to breathe now." He replied. Tris busied herself by slowly opening the box containing a generous slice of dauntless cake and placed it on a plate that she found in one of the cupboards. The next thing she knew, he stood right next to her in a pair of shorts with nothing covering his muscular torso or inked back.

"You've got to forget everything that abnegation teaches about privacy and that you need to have everything except your face covered by clothing." He chuckled as he sat down at the table on one of the chairs before he began to eat the treat that she'd brought him using a spoon from the drying rack.

"Who said I hadn't?" She frowned.

"For a start, you're acting all awkward because I haven't got a shirt on. Secondly, I think you're the only dauntless girl who hasn't worn a dress since being here because you're worried about showing a bit of flesh."

"Have you seen how short most of the dresses here are?" She protested. Four just smirked before he continued eating his cake.

"Are you going to stay here tonight?" He asked curiously.

"I um… I…"

"It'd be on the sofa, don't worry." He said reassuringly. "I mean, I would offer you my bed but given that I've been in it and I'm sick–"

"No, the sofa's fine." She interrupted. "Thank you." She said gratefully.

"For what?" He frowned.

"For being so understanding… and patient." She said embarrassedly.

"Thank _you _for getting me dauntless cake." He grinned.

It was getting late and Tris had just settled down on the sofa with a black blanket laid on top of her. She could see Four, laid in bed and his chest slowly rose and fell as he got some rest to aid his recovery after he had not long ago given her a pair of dark grey sweatpants and a black t-shirt for her to sleep in before he'd called it a night. But whilst she sympathised for him falling ill, she begun to notice a dull ache that had become more and more potent in her head throughout the evening…. She wasn't getting ill too was she?

* * *

**Thank you very much for reading, please leave a review to let us know what you think!**


End file.
